What's the deal with Playbooks? That's a question that's way too big for one episode. But Moe Poplar, of the RPG Academy podcast Show & Tell, had a very particular effect of playbooks that he wanted to talk about on the show today: how playbook choice can be a line of communication between players, GM, and designer.
Dice Exploder After Show: Rules For Your Cool Sword
CommentPodcast Transcript: Exploding Dice with Mikey Hamm
TranscriptCommentThis week, now that the part of season 3 that was funded by Kickstarter is over, I’ve got a treat for you: the backers-only bonus episode with Mikey Hamm, designer of Slugblaster. You didn’t think I was gonna just hold on to an episode this good forever, did you? It’s the show’s namesake mechanic!
Mikey is currently Kickstarting Two-Hand Path, a solo game roll-and-write dungeon crawler. Check it out.
While I thought this episode would be a big of a goof about a goofy mechanic (and it is), it also brought out some of the most thoughtful thoughts on deploying mechanics with precision and purpose that I’ve had on the show yet. Also, we had a blast.
A slug blast.
Highly Structured Games Are Good
3 CommentsI noticed recently that the RPGs that most reliably give me their intended experience, regardless of who I’m playing with or how experienced and familiar with the game the facilitator is, have an enormous amount of structure to them. At any given point, it is always clear in these games who is responsible for taking the next action and what their options are for that action.
Podcast Transcript: Innovation in Game Design with James Wallis
TranscriptCommentThis week's cohost is James Wallis, cohost of the Ludonarrative Dissidents podcast, a show a lot like this one that's Kickstarting their third season now, and designer of one of the first story games: The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen.
Today we're breaking format: instead of talking about one game mechanic, James brought in the concept of innovation in game design. What does it look like, is it important, and how can we do more of it?
The show notes for this one are friggin packed.